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Letters Share the Life and Mind of Holland’s Founder

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With the bicentennial of the birth of the Rev. Albertus C. Van Raalte only a few months
away, a new book provides insights into the life and mind of Holland's founder from
a new source: the man himself.

With the bicentennial of the birth of the Rev. Albertus C. Van Raalte only a few months
away, a new book provides insights into the life and mind of Holland's founder from
a new source: the man himself.

Published earlier this month, "Envisioning Hope College: Letters written by Albertus
C. Van Raalte to Philip Phelps Jr., 1857 to 1875" features correspondence as the two
men worked together on behalf of education in the Holland Colony, efforts that led
to the founding of both Hope and Western Theological Seminary in the 1860s. While
the volume isn't a biography per se, its editor, Dr. Elton Bruins (pictured), feels
that the collection of 94 letters provides perspective on Van Raalte unavailable in
previous works about the respected religious leader.

"This is the first book dealing with Van Raalte in which he himself is doing most
of the speaking," Bruins said. "You hear Van Raalte speaking for himself and opening
his heart, and that for me makes the book."

"You get a real look into his life," he said. "You see him at his best and you see
him when he is struggling."

A 519-page hardcover, the book has been co-published by Van Raalte Press of Hope College
and Eerdmans Publishing of Grand Rapids through the Historical Series of the Reformed
Church in America. It was prepared through the sponsorship of the A.C. Van Raalte
Institute. Bruins shares editing credit with the late Karen G. Schakel, who was officer
manager and editorial assistant with the institute until her death in December 2009.

Van Raalte led the Dutch colonists who established Holland in 1847, and among his
other efforts worked tirelessly on behalf of education. Phelps became principal of
the HollandAcademy, the school which Van Raalte had established, in 1859, and became
the founding president of Hope when the college grew out of the academy in 1862.
Hope received its charter from Michigan in 1866, the same year that the first class
graduated. Western Theological Seminary was established as an extension of the college
in 1866, to enable graduates of Hope interested in ministry to continue their studies
locally.

Multiple events are planned in both the U.S. and in the Netherlands in October in
commemoration of Van Raalte's birth 200 years ago, on Oct. 17, 1811 in the village
of Wanneperveen in Overijssel, the Netherlands. The book's publication on the eve
of the anniversary celebration is a happy conjunction, culminating work that Bruins
started in 1997.

Bruins is retired from the Hope religion faculty and the past director of Hope's A.C.
Van Raalte Institute, which studies Dutch-American and Holland-area history, and has
been researching local and Hope history for more than 40 years. His publications
include, as co-author, the books "Albertus C. Van Raalte: Dutch Leader and American
Patriot" (1996) and "Albertus and Christina: The Van Raalte Family, Home and Roots"
(2004).

The letters in "Envisioning Hope College: Letters written by Albertus C. Van Raalte
to Philip Phelps Jr., 1857 to 1875," which Van Raalte wrote in English, are extensively
annotated, with explanations about the people and events referenced by Van Raalte
and behind the scenes. The result, Bruins noted, is a broader history of the community
in addition to a view of Van Raalte and the creation of Hope and Western Theological
Seminary.

"Readers will also learn about Holland, Michigan, and about what's going on in the
denomination at the time," he said.

Holland's settlers had come to the United States seeking economic opportunity, and
religious and educational freedom. Van Raalte knew that his people would need additional
pastors to lead them in the future, and so in 1851 he established a PioneerSchool
to prepare young people for college and, he hoped, seminary and the ministry.

As a frontier community, Holland lacked the resources to sustain the school, and Van
Raalte traveled to the East regularly, for months at a time, seeking donations from
wealthy patrons in the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, today's Reformed Church in
America, which the colonists' congregations ultimately joined. It was during one
of those trips that he met Phelps, who was pastoring two small churches in New York.

"They were a study in contrasts in many ways," Bruins said. "Van Raalte was born
and raised in the Netherlands, Phelps in Albany, New York. Van Raalte, as his letters
indicate, had an uneven temperament that depended on the state of his health; Phelps,
however, seemed always to be on an even keel. Van Raalte was forceful in personality;
Phelps was quite reserved."

The differences didn't stop them from becoming friends right up until Van Raalte's
death in 1876. In fact, Bruins said, Phelps was one of Van Raalte's few close friends.
Not infrequently, Van Raalte's letters to Phelps are signed "Your humble Brother and
Friend."

"He does not say that lightly," Bruins said. "He means that."

One result, Bruins said, is that Van Raalte is particularly candid in the letters.
"He unloads his feelings in a way that you rarely see anyplace else," he said.

It helped, Bruins noted, that the two men were of a like mind where Hope and later
the seminary were concerned. "Each was gifted in his own way, and each was devoted
equally to the cause of Christian higher education," he said.

Bruins started the book project as a devoted fan of Van Raalte - and he continues
to admire the leader for all that he did for Holland and the college. In addition
to having led the community's settlers to West Michigan, Bruins said, Van Raalte never
stopped working for the well-being of both. He donated large swaths of land to the
community, including CentennialPark and the college's original 16 acres; he spent
months away from his large family, who Bruins noted he loved dearly, to gain crucial
financial support; he worked to connect the Midwest immigrant congregations to the
RCA.

"He was interested in all facets of the community life, which made him incredibly
busy and probably stretched too thin," Bruins said. "You can say he lived and died
for Holland, Michigan."

"He wanted things his own way - that's why you see so much bickering in the Holland
community," he said. "But without him, we wouldn't have the Holland of today."

As he worked with Van Raalte's letters, though, Bruins found himself growing in admiration
of Phelps. Although Phelps's letters in response to Van Raalte don't survive, other
work by Phelps does - and he found a sense of Phelps in what Van Raalte said and how.

"Phelps doesn't gripe," Bruins said. "He in that way was a very peaceful, irenic
person. Just a fine Christian man."

Bruins has even formed a new view of Phelps's role in the history of Hope, leading
the way for expanded recognition for Hope's first president, who served until 1878.

Long-time tradition has called Van Raalte the college's founder. In addition to Van
Raalte's well-documented efforts both before and after Hope was established, his family
stayed active in the life of the college, contributing, Bruins said, to his legend
as founder. For example, the college's president and vice president were sons-in-law,
and the dean of women a daughter, when Hope dedicated Van Raalte Hall in 1903.

Phelps, conversely, had returned to New York in the 1880s. But it was Phelps, Bruins
realized, who had been on site day-to-day, making a go of the vision in the early
years. Phelps initially taught every class; hired the first faculty; and, Bruins
feels, established the institutional character that continues to the present.

Obituaries after Phelps's death in 1896 had even called him the "organizer" of Hope.
Recognizing that the college would not have existed with either, Bruins and his fellow
historians at the Van Raalte Institute now celebrate both as "co-organizers."

"It may have been Van Raalte's idea, but Phelps did the work," Bruins said.

Copies of "Envisioning Hope College: Letters written by Albertus C. Van Raalte to
Philip Phelps Jr., 1857 to 1875" will be available at the college's Hope-Geneva Bookstore
for $49. Located on the ground level of the DeWitt Center, 141 E. 12th St., the Hope-Geneva
Bookstore can be called at 800-946-4673 or (616) 395-7833.

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